


Never Trust The Butler

by DistortedRebel



Category: Escape the Night (Web Series)
Genre: Probably gonna be like an episode per chapter? Or maybe two chapters per episode, and bc the group dynamic changes w each chapter, and it wont be the same as canon, bc I said so, definitely a different death order to canon, might just turn into lele/matt in general i love me my hate ships, might turn into a lele/matt survivor au if im feeling it, what would happen if lele saw that the house staffs names were in the murder book
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-22
Updated: 2019-07-22
Packaged: 2020-07-10 18:49:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19910497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DistortedRebel/pseuds/DistortedRebel
Summary: A season one au, starting from episode four: mannequins. Joey writes Glozells name in the murder journal, but then Lele spots something interesting: Sarah, Arthur and Marvin's names in the book. But the house staff have been with them all night, so how could they be dead?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is based entirely around the fact that the house staffs names are in the murder book from mannequins. I don't know exactly where this is gonna lead, but because I love hate ships theres a large chance itll turn into lele/matt stuff, maybe even an au where they're the two survivors. Who knows what could happen!

When they had said perverse games everyone had gotten some ideas in their head as to what it would be, but no one had quite predicted this. The mannequins, the weird feeling of skin on plastic, the unsettling sensation of kissing cold, hard, unmoving plastic. Lele had seen some strange things tonight, had done things she never expected to do (it was only hours ago she'd been locked in a glass tube with her life in the hands of Eva after all), but having a three way with some mannequins was really not something she was prepared for. She definitely would have been more into it if she'd been in that room alone, but having Joey watching her as well as the unknown person or presence giving them their clues made her just a little more uncomfortable with the whole thing.

But it's over as quickly as it started, and she's ready to pretend that it never happened. That, she decided, is how she would deal with this entire night if she managed to survive. Repress the memories, forget the dead. Move on with her life. But as much as she plans to do such a thing, she still can't close her eyes without seeing Andrea's tube fill up with gas or hearing Justine's screams as she was buried alive. Not to mention the dread and guilt that lingers from the beginning of the night, when she'd had the chance to help save Shane but couldn't. Even with her plans to forget this night and move on, the deaths of the people around her would haunt her for a long time to come.

The draw opens to reveal a book, the final part of this strange challenge. But it isn't a contest, isn't a moment to fight for her life. Instead the book that Joey pulls out is just another in the long list of things changing Lele's life tonight. It's a chance, a free kill. There's only one person here Lele can happily send to their death, and that's Matt. Before tonight she'd had no hard feelings for the guy, hadn't even known he existed, but now she was convinced that he was working with the evil of the house; and the only way to survive was to take the evil out.

"I know you're friends with Matt.." The blonde starts, rereading the instructions on the page before turning to Joey. "..But I honestly think Matt should die." The words come out harsh, but she's been harsh with Matt the entire night. No one would be that surprised if he was the next to go, and she's sure that they'd be better off without him. "But he helps us." The words come from Joey's mouth with little hesitation, and it's clear that Lele is the only one in the room who wants Matt gone. "He helps us-," She repeats, but before she even finishes those words she's onto her next, "But he wants me dead. Okay, this is a game of survival? He wants me dead." She's desperate, sure that if she doesn't take him out now he'll take her out later. One of them is going to have to die, they cant both make it out of this.

Joey starts talking about how he'd vouch for her and how he'd make sure she doesn't die, but it doesn't really get through to her. It's a game of life or death, but at the end of the day she isn't the only one playing. And finally Joey gets to his point: He wants to put Glozells name in. Lele wants to argue, as she always does, but before she has a chance to do it he's already writing the name in. "Well it's your house.." She mumbles, heart sinking in that moment. From here on out things would only get harder. Her eyes watch the page as he writes, but something catches her eye. "Wait-" Its too late to wait, Glozells name is already in the book and the door behind them has unlocked, but still Lele reaches forward and takes hold of the murder book, studying the page intently. "Arthur, Sarah and Marvin.. That's, like, the butler and the maid, right? Their names are in here." With every word she seems to point at the book more, shove it into Joey's face as if this can help them somehow. "What does that mean? They can't be dead, they've been around helping us all night.." Joey says, confusion clear on his face. "I don't know what it means." Lele says, standing up as the sound of the chaos downstairs unfolds. "But we can't trust them, and we can't leave the book here. We have to keep this."

And suddenly it seems like maybe Matt isn't the evil one here. Maybe Lele's been wrong the whole time. In that moment she decides that maybe it's good that they didn't kill Matt, but even if she suddenly believes he isn't entirely terrible, that doesnt mean hes had the same change of heart, and it doesn't mean that he no longer wants her dead. Lele may have decided to stop coming for Matt, but Matt hasn't decided to stop coming for Lele.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lele and Joey tell the gang about the murder book, but not everyone seems to trust them...

The murder book is tucked inside of Joey's jacket, while Lele carries the artifact, the pair deciding that it isn't safe to let the staff know what they saw. Arthur is right outside, waiting for one of them to come out. "We have to get rid of Arthur." Joey whispers, the words coming across more ominous than intended. "We can't tell them when he's around. When any of them are around." Lele agrees with little hesitation, the two of them finally heading for the door. "What do we say about Glozell?" Lele asks, pausing before they leave the room. "We can't tell them, they'll all just think I'm evil." That's one of Joey's biggest worries, he'd tried to get rid of the idea by getting rid of Glozell, but who knows what everyone else thinks. It's entirely possible that this would only make everyone turn against him. "Ok, okay. We'll just tell them we unlocked something and it said one of them was gonna die." It's not the most convincing, but it's the best Lele can do in the moment and Joey doesn't have anything better.

They hear everyone freaking out as soon as they start coming downstairs, paranoia and fear clearly heightened. Lele enters first, followed by Joey and Arthur. They knew Glozell was dead, but the pair still looked shocked to see her body. The room goes silent as everyone notices them walk in, one person's words cutting through the silence like a knife. "Guys, Glozell died!" Eva says, gesturing wildly. Obviously they could tell, but it was enough of a shock that she still felt the need to say it. "Like Shane." Sierra says quietly, to which Oli nods and agrees. "It was exactly like Shane… But you got the artifact?" Joey nods. "We got the artifact." And with that Lele walks over and puts it alongside the other artifacts. They're almost there. Only one more to go.

"What happened up there? With the perverse games?" Matt asks, clearly confused as to why they'd both come back and Glozell had died. "There were mannequins.. and we had to do these things.." Joey starts, though hes clearly uncomfortable with the situation. "I'm sorry-" Lele butts in, hands raised to stop both Joey and Matt from talking. "I can't keep talking like normal with her here." Her hands move to gesture to Glozell, body turning to face Arthur. "You're the butler, can you get rid of her?" The request seems to shock everyone, but no one more than Arthur and Sarah, who seems to have just walked in. "You. You're the maid. Come on, it's your job to clean up, right? I mean that's what you did with Shane, isn't it? Go throw her where you threw him." Her words come out harsh, clearly making everyone uncomfortable. "Lele-" Matt starts, but she cuts him off before he has a chance to continue. "It's their jobs Matt, don't make me regret being nice to you."

As Arthur and Sarah begin to move Glozell's body outside Lele follows, giving a small nod to Joey. "When was she ever nice to me?" Matt whispers to Tim, but before Tim has a chance to answer Joey steps forward. "Guys, we found something but you have to keep it quiet. Don't tell Arthur." The room stays mostly hushed, but the confusion everyone feels is clear. "Don't tell Arthur? But he's helping us." Sierra says. "I thought so too, but he's not. Neither are Sarah or Marvin, they're not telling us everything." Joey's voice is quiet, careful not to let anyone overhear. But then Lele comes back in, rushing but alone. "They're outside and I locked the door, we don't have long." She grabs the book from inside Joey's jacket and opens it, but before speaking she realizes that their plan won't work if they see the book. Joey seems to realize that too, reaching to try to take the book from Lele but she pulls it away before he can grab it. "We killed Glozell."

Chaos erupts, questions asked in hushed tones. A "why?" from Oli, a "what the hell?" from Tim, "she's clearly working with the evil!" coming from Matt followed by "Or Joey is" from Eva. "Guys, shut up and listen!" Joey says, trying to yell while also whispering. They all seem to go silent, but before he can explain Lele steps forward. "First of all, Matt, it was her or you and Joey saved you, so sit down and shut up." With her words Lele pushes Matt so that he falls back into his seat, and he does little to fight back. "We had to kill someone, we killed her, not the point. This book, we had to write her name to kill her, but Arthur's in this book too. And Sarah and.. the other guy." She looks down at the book. "Marvin. The groundskeeper." Everyone gets even more confused at that, but only one person speaks up. "But how can they be dead?" Sierra asks. "They've been helping us all night." Its a question sitting on everyone's shoulders, but before anyone can answer her they hear the door opening. "I thought you locked it?" Joey whispers. "I did." Lele replies quickly, throwing the book at Matt as a way to try and hide it. There's a look of confusion on his face, but he gets that they cant let Arthur see it, so he shoves the book under the cushion behind him.

Arthur and Sarah walk in looking like they don't suspect a thing. "Sorry we took so long, locked myself out." His gaze turns to Lele. "Luckily I have the keys." She tries not to look guilty and just hopes everyone else does the same. Clearly they're convincing, because Arthur seems to move on. "Only one artifact left." He says as he looks to the artifacts they'd collected so far. A growl comes from outside, making everyone freak out. "The evil of this house knows someone is trying to imprison it." Arthur states. "It's unleashed its guardian to make sure that doesn't happen."

Suddenly Lele regrets locking Arthur outside, because if he really is with the evil then that means he probably unleashed the guardian himself, which means that not only are they in danger, but the only one that they thought could protect them is the one putting their lives at risk...


End file.
